A SMALL village in Oxfordshire could get a new £29million railway station.
The village itself is small, home to around 700 people – but is right next to Bicester Village and a new attraction currently being built nearby too.
Oxfordshire County Council has the potential for a new station on the Chiltern Main Line in a small village called Ardley.
It’s location is a nine-minute drive away from Bicester Village, a luxury designer outlet shopping centre.
A possible location being considered for the new railway is the site of the previous Ardley station, which closed in 1963.
Plans to build the new station forms part of part of the council’s bid to improve rail connectivity across the region.
The cost of the station is estimated to be between £24-£29million.
If built it would be added to the existing OxRail 2040 proposals, which includes new stops at Oxford Cowley, Oxford Littlemore, Begbroke and Wantage and Grove.
The location of the potential train station will mean it won’t be far from the proposed Puy du Fou theme park.
It’s set to be built on a site north of Bicester near the M40.
Plans were submitted last year for the 370-acre attraction which is set to have four ‘villages’ based on different periods of time, with 13 different live shows.
Three on-site hotels would be part of the theme park and each themed on different periods of British history.
Being primarily outdoors, the park would be open between April and October.
If approved, the first phases of the park will open in 2029, with nearly 1.5million visitors a year.
The theme park is already popular in both France and Spain – it doesn’t have any rides but lots of historical re-enactments and immersive villages.